Sheet delivery apparatus for printing machines



y 5, 1953 A. w. RANGER 2,637,553

SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 8, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet l May 5, 1953 A. w. RANGER SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 8, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 w u M km, N \N 4 mm RN mm m 8 a 8 a any. N v \M n H H M Q\ m MMMh I l NI. u lnfl. iilll WHMMMJI. v.) fl l-l. m NW Km 8. Q & km 9 9 y 1953 -A. w. RANGER 2,637,553

SHEET DELIVERY'APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 8, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 May 5, 1953 A. w. RANGER I SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 8, 1948 A. W. RANGER SHEET DELIVERY APPARATUS FOR PRINTING MACHINES May 5, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 8, 1948 Mia? Patented May 5, 1953 UN 1 T ED PATENT OFFICE s'HEET'pELivERY APPA AT S'FOR PRINTING MACHINES ArthunWillard Ranger, Brighton, England Al'ililiciitibnlin fiii'; 194 er a 19,8485 enarnritain An' 1947" 9:"( llaim's. (Cl. 271*79') 1:: Theinvention relates to sheet delivery spears tusf for" printing machines;

it concerns delivery apparatiis" havin'e' an end;

less'c'hain" c'onveyorwhich isprovidedwith space f stsof mechanical grippers for successively en gaging with the printed sheets on the: ifhpi es'} sio'n cylinder and removing them from: cylinder and conveying them to and depositing:

them on a" piling table; the apparatus being-1 usually provided with jogge'rs or'vibratin'g'plates for'sti'ai'ghtening"the sheets-on the pile;- v

I Hitherto th'ejconveyor has been mounted with: its'fbrward end on a cross shaft adjacent to' the impression cylinder; the" shai't' being irt a fixe d i position; anda'l'though in some instances the? conveyor can be swung" upwardly from its real" the Bed and piling table; the forwa rd end of the conveyor forms an obstructionat thati'erid whichi prevents access to the adjacent. ortion or the impression cylinder; and the case of a'cylindermachine with a sheet feeding mechanism at the sa'm'e side'a's the" delivery conveyoi it preveiitss access" to the lay board. I

It is. highly desirable that free access should be possible to the impression cylinder a the sneetiay board, as welfa's to thepil ing 'ta' and some cases to the sheet fee-dine apparatusi'n theraised positions, the drivingmecl'i-anrsfii being?" re eng'aged automatically when. Both s'ec tiens are in the lowered or" worms positions; I

Manually 'operated means he pr-oyided it'ci i and? disengage the driving mechanism or:

the" derive-yer:-

A safety lock is preferably" provided:-

holtli when sled-L.

the appli ation: ofsuch sl ieet del'iizeryi i. two sections;

x'o'ept the: conveyor; when either 01 both sections "re conveyor t'o'" asingle revolution cylinder flat Bed; printing 'machine in which the impression cyli'iider rotates at a non-uniform speed variable? speed mechanism isp'rovided for driving'thecon ve'yor so that the grippers on the conveyor are synchronised with the cylinder.

Ihe invention further includes the provision of joggers for the piling table which comprise guideplates vibratedi by pneumatic devices so that their. action is light'an'd elastic and therehy avoids" liability of injury to the machine minder;

In: the accompanying drawings: Figure. l is" a. side View somewhat diagram matically. illustrating a continuously rotating; cylinder. flat bed. printingma'chine' with one form of sheetv delivery: apparatus according.- ton the; in! vention appliedz.

Figure 2 is a side'view'of one. form of c'0n'=- veyor: according toi the invention,v

same conveyor on the'line' 3-3, Figure 4;

Figures; is: a plan View ofFigure' 2; Figure 5 is a: front view of. one form of clutchmechanism for" enabling. the drive' of the" con;-

" veyor' tobei engaged and disengaged automation-- 1y when either" or both sections of: the conveyor are lowered and raised, respectively:

Figure- 61 is. a somewhat diagrammatic: side viewofipart of said clutch m'echanism.

Figure 7: is a. side view; and.

Figure: 8- isa rear. sectional? view on li -8,. Fid ure 7,.i'llustrating another. form of. driving gear for: the: conveyor..

Figures 9 and; 10 are, respectively; a side view and; a. sectional: end; view' on? Iil: l.0; Figure- 9;.

showing a chain slipper in position.

In the: form. of sheet delivery apparatus illustrated. by Figures. 1 to 6, the conveyor is com plised: of. twov sections indicated by 9. and it). hingedlatitheir adjacent ends on a shaft Ill.

Th'ezfore section 9 has two side. frames 5 2 and I3 and the rear section l0 has two side fi'aines I4 and 15.

The fore section 9 haszaa shaft l'6'-fitted with sprockets ET and theJrea-r sectionl9 has a shaft Id fitted. with. sprockets i9. Endless chains 20' pass over the sprockets I1 and l 9; suit'abiemeans being provided to guide and tension the chains; for? instance; as shown in Figures 3; 5" and 10'; Slippers: 2i pivoted on studs 22 passing through slots 222 in the side frames l2 and I-3 engage with: the chains: 26: and. aread'justeci in the? slots 2.222 by adjusting; screws: 23:;

I 'Ilhechains; 29 are provided; with sets. of me?"- c'h'anieal' grippers 24 at: regularly" spaced in ter' Figure: 3- being a sectional side View. of the:

vals. The grippers 24 are of known type, that is, they are in the form of plates carried by shafts 25, which are mounted to oscillate in bearings 26 carried by the gripper bars 21 with which the grippers 24 co-operate. The gripper shafts 25 have springs 28, which keep them closed until they are opened by cams 29 and 30 with which rollers 3l on trip levers 32 on the gripper shafts 25 engage as they pass around the fore and rear ends of the conveyor.

The cams 29 and 30 are fixed to the side frames I4 and I2, respectively, adjacent to the sprocket shafts l6 and [8. The shaft II is supported in brackets 33 fixed to the main framework 34 of the machine.

- speed rotating cylinder printing once for each revolution, others (b) have a stop-cylinder i. c.

The fore section 9 of the conveyor is normally supported at its outer end on brackets 35, which carry the shaft 36 of the impression cylinder 31,

the brackets being supported by the machine framework 34. Only one bracket 35 is indicated in Figure 1, and the impression cylinder 3! is only diagrammatically indicated, as its form including the grippers 38 thereon and the manner of driving it may be of conventional type.

The rear conveyor section [0 when lowered is supported at its outer part by means hereinafter described.

A piling table 40 is diagrammatically indicated in Figure 1, as it may be of conventional type.

The rear conveyor section in is shown in Fig ure 1, provided with a counterbalance weight 4| mounted on a shaft 42, which is provided with two levers 43 connected by links 44 to the conveyor side frames [4 and [5. This facilitates raising of the rear conveyor section I 0 from the normal position, as indicated in full lines in Figure l, to that indicated in dot-and-dash lines, the weight 4| when swung from its normal position being sufiicient to hold the rear conveyor section in its raised position. Little manual effort is required to raise and lower the rear conveyor section. When the section I0 is lowered the levers 43 rest upon brackets 38! on the frame 34, which also carries the sheet feeding mechanism, which is not illustrated as it may be of conventional type, the feed or lay board being diagrammatically indicated at 39.

The fore conveyor section 9 being shorter can be raised manually from its normal position, shown in full lines in Figure 1, to the position indicated in dot-and-dash lines. It is locked in the raised position by a safety lock, best shown in Figures 3 and 4, comprising a latch 45 pivoted at 46 to the conveyor side frame I2 and having a notch 41 for engagement with a pin 48 on the conveyor side frame 14.

It has been suggested to make an endless band or apron type delivery conveyor in two hinged sections, but the problem is not the same. It is immaterial at what speed an apron type conveyor operates as it does not have to take hold of each sheet and pull it off the impression cylinder.

With an endless band or apron conveyor the sheet is removed by special devices so called strippers fixed in front of the cylinder below the conveyor. They merely place the sheet on the endless band and no strippers are used with an endless chain gripper type of conveyor, the grippers directly taking hold of the sheet while on the cylinder.

Consequently, an endless chain type having mechanical grippers must be driven at variable speeds, between the runs and sheet grippers thereon at the sprockets and travel on the one which revolves and stops after each revolution, while others (0) have cylinders which make two revolutions per printing operation and rise and fall.

The invention has been particularly designed for the type (a) but is equally applicable to type (b).

In either case synchronization of conveyor and cylinder is necessary, that is, the mechanical grippers of the conveyor must arrive at the same time as the cylinder grippers arrive at the delivery position.

With types (a) and (b) the speed of the conveyor must also be synchronized with the speed of revolution of the cylinder while the printed sheet is being taken or gripped.

In order to meet both of these conditions the conveyor should not only be driven through gearing, preferably offset from the drive and pivot axis and variable or change speed gearing off the cylinder shaft to give effective synchronism or correct mutual time of arrival, but the speed of the conveyor must vary during removal of the sheet from the cylinder to suit the varying speed of the cylinder.

5 The ratio of gearing will take care of timing of conveyor and cylinder, but something more is required in the gearing to effect synchronization of speed of conveyor grippers and cylinder.

Hence the provision of what is described in the specification as a variable speed gear.

When an endless chain conveyor fitted with mechanical grippers is provided on a printing press in which the impression cylinder is rotating during the removal of a sheet, the syn.- chronization of the grippers on the conveyor with those on the impression cylinder, so far as mutual time of arrival is concerned, can be assured by appropriately determining the ratio of the gearing between the impression cylinder shaft and the driving sprockets of the conveyor or chains.

A difficulty arises because the abutment bars of the conveyor grippers must extend beyond the circumferences of the pitch circles of the driving sprockets in order that the outer surfaces of the bars may pass closely to the impression cylinder. Consequently, although the surfaces of the abutment bars are moving at the same speed as the chains when traveling along the straight runs or paths of the chains, the speed of the abutment surfaces is increased when the bars are moving round the sprockets with the chains. This is due to their greater distance from the centre rotation i. e. the axis of the sprocket. Thespeed of the bars drops again as they leave the sprockets.

With a rotating cylinder, for example, one moving at a non-uniform speed, as in the machine described in British specification No. 589,522 (U, S. Serial No. 653,068) now U. S. Patstifokts driving the gripper chain's. Such 2'1- s'peed varying g'ear' also ensures thatth'e' gripper chains eir e' decelerated when printed sheet deposited on the delivery pile.

Iii the example :ibove described, the came-v61 hriifis 20 are driven so that the gripper 2W afbro'ughtto arid'frorh the impressiori cyhhdei iii proper sequence or synchronisrn with the cylirider' grippers- 38 by the following niechelh is'r'nz A- bevel wheel 49 ori' the shaft 3% of theii'rii pressio'n cylinder" 31' meshes with a bevel zjiriion 56' oh 2 shaft 5! which has a bevel pir'iion 52 meshing with a; bevel Wheel 53, es showri' Figures 2 and 4. The wheel 53 is fixed on a stub shaft 54* mounted to rotate in a b'e'ar'irig': 5'50n a; bracket 5E5 fixed to the adjacent-upright bracket 33, as shown 111 Figure 5'.

bevel wheel 5'5, Figures 4 and 5, free" to rotate on the shaft irieshes with a bevel pinion 58011 a; shaft 59- heving a bevel pinioh' 6 meshing with a. bevel Wheel 6i fixed oh the sorocket shaft it; v h

A collar 62 oapab'le" of sliding oh the stub shaft '4 has an arm 53" provided with a drivirig pm 64 passing through a hole 655 iii the bevel wheel 53 and adapted, riormelly, to eiigege with 3; mg 66 on the bevel Wheel 5?. The collar is- Ii'io'ved' by a yoke $7 to bring the driving {jihijrito and out of driving engeugemerit with; the" 111g' 66. The yoke 67 is on one arm; of a; bell crank lever 68 which is pivoted at 69', the other arm of the lever havirig a rounded end it which, when the conveyor sections 3' and me in their normal pesi'tiohs, is situated; in; depressions H and 12 of two earns 13 arid. M; fixed to" the adjacent side frames 53' arid I501 we conveyor sections, es" shown in Figiiresfe' erid 6-. The bell-crank lever 6% is heldin the normal position by a; spring" 531. Coheequ ently. when the impression cylinder is rotated, the bevel Wheel 53" is rotated e'lrli'd the driving pin 84; erig'eigirig with the mg 66 rotates the bevel Wheel 51', so that the sprocket shaft If? is r t'z aiterlto drive the eori'veyor chair'is 26'; chivirig' pirl fi may be provided with" an airiti' friction: roller for engagement with the 111g".

Ifo'fily one of the doma n? seem n me I IOP hes beer: raieed, the Iii-ere lowering of that section to" its" rios itiofi win; be surmise 15y ofi-ts-carn v'eflof rm, to effect detain-afierie" rigagement o'f thedl ivir'i'g pin erath the me" 6 63 s6 that" the ohveyor chains will el'g'aliri be the irribressiori cylinder shaft and that of the p tiiih" of the of a piivlh 2270s; deted p rov1ded -t'o s'ynehr'ohis'e th heet delivery coh sure that the arrival of the gripoers 24 and their aireh'erried' off the sp'ocke't l tame. For this'purpose'; the ub s'taftfi l'ofthe pheiirfi'etic cylin er 11-.

v neces ery;

they be" daught inadvertently bet eeri the pletes 15; is of $2 anuthe fiile" of on the iling table" provided with a gear wheel 86 which meshes with the usual reciprocating rack I86.

It also has a gear wheel I81 (Figure 8) which forms part of a train of gears for rotating the impression cylinder when it is not in engagement with the rack, which train of gears is not shown as it forms no part of this invention. This train of gears may be a variable speed train as disclosed in the aforementioned Patent No. 2,542,705.

The shaft 36 is further provided with a gear wheel 81, which is mounted eccentrically on the shaft. The gear wheel 8'! drives a gear wheel 88 through two intermediate gear wheels 90 andv 9I.

The gear wheel 88 is fixed on a short shaft 92 mounted to rotate in a bearing 93 carried by a bracket 94 fixed to the bearing bracket 35 on the framework 34 of the machine, this bracket 94, the drive gear I81 and the framework being omitted. in Figure 7 for the sake of clearness.

A swinging frame 95, pivoted on a bearing bush 92I of the shaft 92, carries the gear wheels 90 and 9|. A connecting rod 96 is pivotally attached at one end 9'! to the lower end of theswinging frame 95, and at the other end to a pin 98 which is fixed in the end of the shaft 30 eccentrically to the centre line thereof, but concentric or co-axial with the gear wheel 81. The swinging of the connecting rod 95 by the eccentric pin 98 causes the pinion 90 to oscillate or roll to and fro on the wheel 8'! as indicated by the arrows H4 and II5, Figure 7, which results in a slight retardation and acceleration in thespeed of the chain driving sprockets I"! to compensate for the slight momentary increase of speed of the outer surfaces of the chain gripper abutment bars when passing around said sprockets as hereinbefore described. Another advantage of varying the speed of the conveyor is that as each sheet is deposited on the piling table its speed and therefore its momentum is decreased so that it is deposited smoothly and evenly on the pile.

A manually operated clutch is provided between the short shaft 92 and the sprocket shaft I 6 of the fore section 9 of the conveyor. This clutch comprises a disc 99 fixed on the shaft 92 and having holes I I2 for the reception of driving pins I on a disc IOI, which is splined to the sprocket shaft I0, but is free to slide thereon. The disc IOI has a collar I02. A pin I03 on a lever I04 engages with the collar I02. The lever I04 is pivoted at I05 and is pivotally connected by a pin I06 to an operating rod I01 provided with a handle I08. The rod I01 can be rotated in the pin I06. It has a catch I09 fixed on it. When the rod I0! is rotated the catch I09 is also rotated into and out of engagement with a stop I I9 fixed on the frame I2. When the handle I08 is pushed inwards against the action of a return spring III, the lever I04 is rocked by the rod I01 to slide the disc I M and its driving pins I00 away from the disc 99, so that the driving clutch is disengaged.

By a partial rotation of the handle, the catch I09 is engaged with the stop IIO so that the clutch is retained in its disengaged condition.

When the clutch is to be re-engaged, the handle I08 is rotated in the opposite direction to release the catch I09 from the stop IIO, whereupon the spring II I slides the rod I01 outwardly, so that the lever I04 slides the disc IOI towards the disc 99. Immediately the holes II 2 in the disc 99 are in registration with the pins I00, the

spring I I I completes the sliding movement of the disc IM and the pins enter the holes and driving starts.

I claim:

1. A fiat-bed printing machine comprising an impression cylinder continuously rotatable at a variable speed, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor for delivering printed sheets from the impression cylinder to the piling table, said endless chain conveyor being composed of two sections hinged at their adjacent ends for permitting either section to be raised and lowered as required, means for driving one of the sprocket shafts of the conveyor from the shaft of the impression cylinder, said driving means including a variable speed gear for synchronizing the speed of the conveyor with that of the impression cylinder, said driving means also including a clutch, and means for controlling said clutch to effect the'engagement and disengagement of said driving means when either of said conveyor sections are respectively lowered or raised.

2. A fiat-bed printing machine as specified in claim 1, having a short shaft mounted partly coaxially with the forward sprocket shaft of the conveyor, a clutch interposed between said shafts, and eccentric driving means between the shafts to cause increase in the speed of the chain conveyor adjacent the cylinder, comprising a gear wheel on said short shaft, a gear wheel eccentrically mounted on the shaft of the impression cylinder, a train of intermediate gear wheels between said e centric gear wheel and the said gear wheel on the short shaft, a swinging frame for carrying said intermediate gear wheels, said frame being pivotally mounted to swing about the axis of said short shaft, a driving pin mounted eccentrically on the shaft of the impression cylinder, but co-axially with the gear wheel thereon and a link pivotally connected at one end with said driving pin and at the other end with said frame.

3. A fiat-bed printing machine as specified in claim 1 wherein one of said sections is longer than the other, counterweighted leverage means connected to said longer section for facilitating raising thereof and supported in lowered posiiton, and releasable means on the shorter section cooperative with means on said longer section to hold the shorter section in raised position.

4. A sheet delivery apparatus for printing machines of the class described comprising a rotatable impression cylinder having sheet grippers, means for rotating the cylinder, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor for delivering printed sheets from the impression cylinder to the piling table, releasable sheet grippers on the cylinder and conveyor respectively, said conveyor comprising two frame sections pivoted to swing up and down on a common hinge axis and chains trained around sprockets journaled at the opposite outer end portions of said frame sections, and speed change gear for driving said conveyor from the cylinder through said hinge axis to compensate for variations in the speeds of the cylinder and conveyor and of the respective grippers thereof in the take-off position so that the conveyor grippers will engage the printed sheets when released by the cylinder grippers, said speed change gear conveyor driving means including cooperating driving connections concentric and eccentric, respectively, to said hinge axis, whereby the conveyor chains and cylinder are driven at such relative variable speeds as to bring and actuate the respective grippers thereof to open and closed positions relatively in proper sequence in the holding and take-off positions, said speed change gear conveyor driving means also including releasably engageable drive mechanism for disengaging said conveyor driving means when either of said conveyor frame sections are raised and engaging said driving means when both of said conveyor frame sections are lowered, said releasably engageable drive mechanism being cooperative with said concentric and eccentric driving connections, whereby the conveyor driving means is disengageable and engageable between said concentric and eccentric connections, and means operable by said frame sections for actuating said releasably eng-ageable drive mechanism to engage or disengage said driving means upon movement of said frame sections.

5. A sheet delivery apparatus for printing machines of the class described comprising a rotatable impression cylinder having sheet grippers, means for rotating the cylinder, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor for delivering printed sheets from the impression cylinder to the piling table, releasable sheet grippers on the cylinder and conveyor respectively, said conveyor comprising two frame sections pivoted to swing up and down on a common hinge axis and means for driving the conveyor from the cylinder and including releasably engageable drive mechanism for disengaging said conveyor driving means when either of said conveyor frame sections is raised and engaging said driving means when both of said conveyor sections are lowered, said conveyor driving means comprising speed change gear for driving said conveyor from the cylinder through said hinge axis to compensate for variations in the speeds of the cylinder and conveyor and including cooperating driving connections concentric and eccentric, respectively, to said hinge axis, whereby the conveyor chains and cylinder are driven at such relative variable speeds as to bring and actuate the respective grippers thereof to open and closed positions relatively in proper sequence in the holding and takeoff positions.

6. A flat-bed printing machine comprising a rotatable impression cylinder having sheet grippers, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor having grippers for delivering printed sheets from said impression cylinder to said piling table, said conveyor being supported by a pivotally mounted frame for permitting the raising and lowering thereof from and to operative position, means for driving said conveyor in synchronism with said cylinder and including releasably engageable drive mechanism operative to effect engagement or disengagement of said driving means when said conveyor frame is respectively lowered or raised, said driving means including means for synchronizing the relative positions of said conveyor grippers with said cylinder grippers upon engagement of said drive mechanism.

7. A fiat-bed printing machine comprising a rotatable impression cylinder having sheet grippers, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor having grippers for delivering printed sheets from said impression cylinder to said piling table, said conveyor being supported by a pivotally mounted frame for permitting the raising and lowering thereof from and to operative position,

means for driving said conveyor in synchronism with said cylinder and including clutch means, and means controlling said clutch to effect enagement or disengagement of said driving means when said conveyor frame is respectively lowered or raised, said clutch means including cooperative rotatable members which are drivingly engageable at a selected relative angle of rotation for synchronizing the relative positions of said conveyor grippers with said cylinder grippers upon engagement of said clutch means.

8. A fiat-bed printing machine comprising a rotatable impression cylinder, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor for delivering printed sheets from said impression cylinder to said piling table, said conveyor including two pivotally mounted frame sections for permitting the respective raising and lowering thereof from and to operative position, means for driving said conveyor in synchronism with said cylinder and including clutch means, and means controlling said clutch means and operative by said frame sections to effect disengagement of said driving means when either of said conveyor frame sections is raised and to effect engagement of said driving means only when both of said conveyor frame sections are lowered.

9. A fiat-bed printing machine comprising a rotatable impression cylinder having sheet grippers, a piling table, an endless chain conveyor having grippers for delivering printed sheets from said impression cylinder to said piling table, said conveyor including two pivotally mounted frame sections for permitting the respective raising and lowering thereof from and to operative position, means for driving said conveyor in synchronism with said cylinder and in-- cluding clutch means, and means controlling said clutch means and operative by said frame sections to effect disengagement of said driving means when either of said conveyor frame sections is raised and to effect engagement of said driving means only when both of said conveyor frame sections are lowered, said clutch means including cooperative rotatable members which are drivingly engageable at a selected relative angle of rotation for synchronizing the relative positions of said conveyor grippers with said cylinder grippers upon engagement of said clutch means.

ARTHUR WILLARD RANGER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 815,008 Davidson Mar. 13, 1906 1,494,339 Clauberg May 20, 1924 1,600,936 Eddelman Sept. 21, 1926 1,645,993 Kelly Oct. 18, 1927 1,694,499 Carlton Dec. 11, 1928 1,979,253 Coy Nov. 6, 1934 2,226,674 Seybold Dec. 31, 1940 2,250,657 Seybold July 29, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 284,845 Great Britain Feb. 9, 1928 327,975 Great Britain Apr. 14, 1930 383,243 Great Britain Nov. 10, 1932 485,239 Great Britain May 17, 1938 

